On a recent drive I came upon a car show in Shrewsbury Pennsylvania at the local Dutch Market. There was a variety of classic cars, trucks and street rods, but with few real stand outs. Nonetheless, I found quite a few vehicles to photograph. One car that I thought was an eye-catcher is the blue street rod shown below.
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This blue street rod was very nicely customized. It’s too bad I was unable to get any clear shots of the interior and engine compartment.
One of the challenges with outdoor shows like this is one’s ability to get a clear shot of any particular vehicle. There is often not much you can do about it. After all, it is a family outing so you must shoot between the foot traffic, but even the spacing of the vehicles on display is problematic with reflections from neighboring vehicles (red on rear chrome bumper) and other items encroaching into your frame.
Having said all of that, I still love to attend these events and take on the challenges at hand. 
Processing
Using the camera’s burst mode, I was still able to rattle off a few hand-held brackets for HDR processing which were run through Nik’s HDR Efex Pro 2. Great software package, by the way. Afterward I cleaned things up in Photoshop and added a dash of Topaz Simplify 4 on the entire image, then remove the treatment from everywhere except the paint job. The result was exactly what I wanted as it eliminated the many reflections of people and other surrounding items initially seen in the extremely shiny paint. The trunk area in particular showed a crowd of folks standing around.
In finalizing the image some sharpening was added, as shown above, and masked away in areas where it was not needed.
On another note, I have launched my Monthly Newsletter for subscribers today. It covers photography industry news, tips and helpful information for beginning and advanced photographers. I am a bit jazzed about this and so look forward to sharing the fun that lies ahead. Interested parties can Subscribe Here!
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Terrific find and well captured Jimi. These shots are indeed tough with all of the distractions. Well done.
Len Saltiel recently posted..High Cathedral of Saint Peter
Great angle, Jimi. And that color is really punchy. Nice job!
Mark Neal recently posted..HDR – The Dog with A Lady
That is a real punch of colour and not an easy image to make with so much happening in the background. You did a great job of minimizing the background and putting the emphasis on the car with your perspective.
Anne McKinnell recently posted..Revisiting Sun Point, Glacier National Park
The low angle works well here, Jimi, as it lessens the distractions in the background. Also, thanks for the workflow – I am yet to have any positive success with Topaz Simplify, so any help offered is greatly received.
You can count me in on the newsletter.
Mark Summerfield recently posted..MSummerfieldimages.com is one year old
Nicely done Jimi. Looking forward to recieving your newsletter.
Edith Levy recently posted..Taking Off
Nice composition with the low pov. And the processing really makes the car pop.
Steven Perlmutter recently posted..The Village
Nice find Jimi, the car I recently found was not this nice and in need of a bit of repair, love the nice blue color in this one
Mike Criswell recently posted..Pimp My Ride
Jimi, I just signed up for your newsletter, I am looking forward to it!
denise ippolito recently posted..October Edition of the MiniMag
Great shot Jimi! And you even shot it hand-held. My hands shake to much for that even in burst mode. I have to use a tripod for any thing I need to have a steady hand.
Normally, when I shoot car shows, I try to shoot from the hip and try and catch people’s reactions when they are looking at the car I want to shoot and then worry about the small details on the car as well as hoping to get a free shot of the whole car.
So did yo get any shots of the front of the car?
James recently posted..Cars and Coffee Dallas Texas
Too cool Jimi! I love the color.
Denise Ippolito recently posted..Heading Home…